Feijoas – how to plant and harvest abundant fruit | Growing Fruit and Vegies | Gardening Australia
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It's feijoa season! Get out in your neighbourhood to see if you can find some windfall fruit... or better yet, get a feijoa growing at your place!
Hailing originally from cool temperate regions of southern Brazil and Argentina, Feijoas (Acca sellowiana) are evergreen small trees or shrubs in the Myrtaceae family. They can be grown anywhere from Tassie’s cool climates all the way into subtropical climates!
They produce a bounty of stunning pink flowers in Spring and in a cool climate like Tassie, produce an abundance of fruits in Autumn.
At maturity they can reach up to 3-5m high and around 2-3 wide but they can be pruned to a smaller tree, can be hedged and are great it pots.
Harvesting the Fruit
The fruit is ready to be harvested when they have fallen to the ground. A ripe feijoa will be soft but not squishy. They will ripen a little bit off the tree so if a fallen fruit is still hard, pop them in a fruit bowl and give them a few days to finish ripening.
Check under your tree regularly for fruit because they will start to rot and attract pests if they are left for too long.
Feijoa fruits are best eaten like a kiwifruit, cut open and spooned out fresh. The fruit tastes like a combination of pineapple, guava and sherbet.
Planting A Feijoa
Autumn is the perfect time to plant feijoas. To get the best crop select an open sunny position with well-drained soil. Add a good dose of nutrients such as aged manure or well-rotted compost to the soil when planting a feijoa tree. Dig a hole as deep as the pot you are planting and about twice as wide, breaking up any large clumps of soil as you go.
There are two types of feijoas you can plant: Seedlings grafted varieties.
Seedlings are cheaper to buy but can take up to 10 years to produce fruit and because they are not a guaranteed cultivar, the size, quality, flavour and amount of fruit you get is an unknown.
Grafted varieties are more expensive but will give you a more reliable crop faster. A grafted Feijoa will have a tag with a cultivar name on it. Look for the scar where it was grafted to confirm it is on a different root stock. Rip off any growth below the graft before planting.
Make sure to water your tree in well after planting. Don’t heavily fertilise your new tree for the first 3 years after planting to allow the tree to settle in.
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About Gardening Australia:
Gardening Australia is an ABC TV program providing gardening know-how and inspiration. Presented by Australia's leading horticultural experts, Gardening Australia is a valuable resource to all gardeners through the television program, the magazine, books, DVDs and extensive online content.
Connect with other Gardening Australia fans:
Like Gardening Australia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gardeningaustralia
Follow Gardening Australia on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gardeningaustralia
Visit the Gardening Australia website: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening
This is an official Australian Broadcasting Corporation YouTube channel.
********
Contributions may be removed if they violate ABC's Online Conditions of Use http://www.abc.net.au/conditions.htm (Section 3).
Hailing originally from cool temperate regions of southern Brazil and Argentina, Feijoas (Acca sellowiana) are evergreen small trees or shrubs in the Myrtaceae family. They can be grown anywhere from Tassie’s cool climates all the way into subtropical climates!
They produce a bounty of stunning pink flowers in Spring and in a cool climate like Tassie, produce an abundance of fruits in Autumn.
At maturity they can reach up to 3-5m high and around 2-3 wide but they can be pruned to a smaller tree, can be hedged and are great it pots.
Harvesting the Fruit
The fruit is ready to be harvested when they have fallen to the ground. A ripe feijoa will be soft but not squishy. They will ripen a little bit off the tree so if a fallen fruit is still hard, pop them in a fruit bowl and give them a few days to finish ripening.
Check under your tree regularly for fruit because they will start to rot and attract pests if they are left for too long.
Feijoa fruits are best eaten like a kiwifruit, cut open and spooned out fresh. The fruit tastes like a combination of pineapple, guava and sherbet.
Planting A Feijoa
Autumn is the perfect time to plant feijoas. To get the best crop select an open sunny position with well-drained soil. Add a good dose of nutrients such as aged manure or well-rotted compost to the soil when planting a feijoa tree. Dig a hole as deep as the pot you are planting and about twice as wide, breaking up any large clumps of soil as you go.
There are two types of feijoas you can plant: Seedlings grafted varieties.
Seedlings are cheaper to buy but can take up to 10 years to produce fruit and because they are not a guaranteed cultivar, the size, quality, flavour and amount of fruit you get is an unknown.
Grafted varieties are more expensive but will give you a more reliable crop faster. A grafted Feijoa will have a tag with a cultivar name on it. Look for the scar where it was grafted to confirm it is on a different root stock. Rip off any growth below the graft before planting.
Make sure to water your tree in well after planting. Don’t heavily fertilise your new tree for the first 3 years after planting to allow the tree to settle in.
See the latest content from Gardening Australia as it goes live by hitting subscribe: http://ab.co/GardeningYouTube
Watch Gardening Australia on ABC iview: http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/gardening-australia
About Gardening Australia:
Gardening Australia is an ABC TV program providing gardening know-how and inspiration. Presented by Australia's leading horticultural experts, Gardening Australia is a valuable resource to all gardeners through the television program, the magazine, books, DVDs and extensive online content.
Connect with other Gardening Australia fans:
Like Gardening Australia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gardeningaustralia
Follow Gardening Australia on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gardeningaustralia
Visit the Gardening Australia website: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening
This is an official Australian Broadcasting Corporation YouTube channel.
********
Contributions may be removed if they violate ABC's Online Conditions of Use http://www.abc.net.au/conditions.htm (Section 3).
